


tell her I love her.

by feyre_darling



Category: A Court of Mist and Fury - Fandom, ACOTAR
Genre: Major character death - Freeform, Rhysand - Freeform, Tamlin - Freeform, feysand, if you like tamlin get away now, sorry about this everyone lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 05:20:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19986766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feyre_darling/pseuds/feyre_darling
Summary: Rhysand coughs, and something red and sticky lands on the floor in front of him. Again, and he can taste the metallic tang of blood filling his mouth. But before he can stop himself, because he’s so utterly afraid and he doesn’t know what to do or say or how the hell he’s going to make it out of here, he looks Tamlin in the eyes.And starts to cry.





	tell her I love her.

**Author's Note:**

> just a quick note, this is bloody sad and I do apologise and if anyone loves tamlin you’d better run far far away from here
> 
> set in acomaf, when rhys is shot down with arrows yall 
> 
> character rights go to Sarah j mass <3 I do not own them!!

When Rhysand wakes up, he knows he’s fucked.

Blinding pain hits him as soon as he opens his eyes, tearing up his back and shuddering through his wings. He lets out a harsh whimper, struggling against the chains that have his arms strung up, the pain so bad he sees lights dance in front of his eyes and has to dig his palms into the chains to stop himself from passing out again. 

Chains. Rhysand tugs at them weakly with a sudden, grim realisation. How wonderful.

With a grunt, Rhys forces himself to look upwards; he has to squeeze his eyes shut for a second while a wave of nausea passes over him, threatening to swallow him into unconsciousness for the second time since he woke. Someone could stick a knife in him right now and he’ll be gone within seconds. And he really, really doesn’t want that to happen.

His vision is blurry; he can barely see through the haze of pain, but he blinks, and a figure appears in the distance. As the figure nears, Rhysand shudders again. He knows that figure. Hates him more than he’s ever hated anyone in his entire life. But, God, he never thought it would come to this.

Tamlin stops just in front, eyes running over him, disgust painted clearly on his face. Rhys hates himself for getting into this situation, hates the fact he’s been chained up by Tamlin, of all people. And so, as the High Lord of the Spring Court sends a punch into Rhys’ abdomen so hard he nearly collapses onto the cold stone floor, he opens his mouth. 

What a bad decision that was.

“Jesus, Tamlin,” Rhys chokes out. The chains around his wrists seem to be covered in faebane; he can barely move, the feeling of lead weighing him down inside his bones, draining him completely of all his magic and strength. 

“You really know how to make a dramatic entrance.” 

Tamlin’s fist connects with Rhys jaw and his head flies to the side. He laughs hoarsely, spitting out blood onto the cold stone floor. 

“I thought I’d always been the dramatic one.”

“Where the hell is she?” Tamlin snarls. Rhys coughs and wheezes, but his mouth is drawn into a tight grin. If he’s going to go down, he might as well keep up his facade for however long he can; for the whole of Velaris, as well as for him.

And for Feyre, too.

Because somewhere in the midst of the forest, he knows Feyre is looking for him. He can feel it, despite the faebane coursing steadily through his veins. He can feel her panic, or maybe it’s his own, he can’t tell. But whatever happens, he damned well isn’t going to let Tamlin or anyone else get their hands on her. Whether she knows or not, she’s still his mate, and in that moment something overcomes him, something terrifying and powerful and nothing like he’s ever felt before, and he’s looking at Tamlin with pure malice and hatred that he doesn’t even have to fake. 

“Oh, Feyre? Let me think. Probably at home, doing whatever she pleases without having to be locked in the dining room. Hell, maybe she’s even having some fun with Cassian. You know, he’s quite fond of a bit of-“

With the next punch, Rhysand sees stars. The whole world goes black, and for a moment he feels like he can’t breathe. The air completely gone from his lungs, he hunches over, gasping like a fish out of water.

He really was fucked this time.

When Rhys manages to swim back into semi- consciousness, he’s not even sure he can form a single word, much less a sentence. His whole body hurts, and for a second he just wants to drop the whole act and go home. 

Home. Rhysand thinks. There never was a better word.

“It’s not her home.” Tamlin cuts through his hazy thoughts, voice practically dripping with jealousy. Rhysand swears he can feel the anger radiating off of him, even with the faebane taking over his whole body. 

“Home is where she belongs. With me. And I don’t know what the hell you’ve done to her-“

“I haven’t done anything to her. It was her choice, and only hers. And I don’t blame her- it must be hard, being cooped up with you in that mansion for such a long time-“ 

Tamlin lunges at Rhys, grabbing the chains with both hands. He leans in close, so close Rhysand can’t help but grimace; all attempts at masking his fear completely abandoned. His back feels like it’s on fire, and his wings...  
Rhys lets out a loud groan, his chest heaving, breathing erratic and panicked. Before he can stop himself, a choked sob escapes his lips. 

So much for putting on a good show, huh? 

“So the High Lord of the Night Court isn’t so tough after all?” Tamlin sneers, the traces of a sly smile dancing on his lips.  
“I won’t ask you again, Rhysand. Where. Is. She.” 

Rhysand coughs, and something red and sticky lands on the floor in front of him. Again, and he can just taste the metallic tang of blood filling his mouth. But before he can stop himself, because he’s so utterly afraid and he doesn’t know what to do or say or how the hell he’s going to make it out of here, he looks Tamlin in the eyes.

And starts to cry. 

Huge, ugly sobs start to pour out of him, his whole body shaking with fear and pain and the sheer effort of moving a muscle. Tamlin’s eyes are wide; he obviously didn’t expect this, and neither did Rhysand, if he’s going to be completely honest. But it’s been so hard, so impossibly hard and he can’t keep doing it anymore and suddenly he finds himself begging, kneeling on the floor and begging Tamlin to let Feyre go. He doesn’t care how long it takes, he doesn’t even care how long he’s got left to live, he just wants her to be safe. 

“Please, Tamlin-“ he manages between sobs and the occasional agonising cough, “I don’t care what you do to me, I don’t care if you rip my goddamn wings off and leave me here in this cave to bleed to death, I don’t care, I don’t, okay, just- just please don’t take her, okay? I just- you can’t do that to her, not now-“

“I didn’t do anything to her, I was-“

“YOU LOCKED HER IN THE GODDAMN HOUSE, TAMLIN!” Rhysand screams, close to hysterics. He can feel it building up inside of him, but he can’t stop now, and as he kneels there with blood pouring out of his wings and down his back, he looks Tamlin straight in the eyes again. 

“You locked her in the house. After everything that happened with- with her, and Under the Mountain, and you lock her in? How could you- I don’t understand how you could-“  
When he breaks off, there’s no energy left in him. 

It’s as sudden as that.

He thought he’d be able to see it coming. At least try to fight it, when the time came.

His eyelids start to droop, and he can feel himself slipping away.

Away from everything.

And try as he might, the pain is too much, and he starts to wonder if he’ll ever get to see her face again. 

“Tam- Tamlin-“ he gets out. The cave has disappeared; all that’s left are the lights dancing in his eyes and the faint sound of the droplets of water falling from the stone and onto the floor. 

He doesn’t want to die. He really, really doesn’t want to die.

Not when she doesn’t know.

“Please-“ Reaching blindly in front of him, he manages to grab Tamlin by the collar, fingers fisting the fabric tightly. Tamlin makes no effort to move, Rhys can feel it. 

“Please- don’t hurt her. Please don’t-“ He coughs again, but the sound of his chest rattling and the slowness of the heartbeat in his chest tells him he doesn’t have much time left.

“She’s- we’re mates, Tam.” 

pleasedontidontwanttogopleasedontmakemego

“We’re mates, she’s- my mate... and I-“

nononononono not now please not now 

“Tell her I love her, okay? Please- just do it- tell her.” 

“Rhysand, I-“ Tamlins voice breaks off, and it’s only then that Rhys realises he’s crying too. Because Rhys knows, even after everything Tamlin has done, he didn’t intend to kill him. It wasn’t supposed to end like this, not for him. Sure, he wanted to get information out of him. But not this way. He knows this, because he can feel Tamlin gripping the back of his head, holding it up for him. The chains are unloosened and Rhys collapses with a thud onto the floor, Tamlin’s arms the only thing supporting him.

“Rhys, I didn’t know- it was supposed to be faebane, I didn’t know they’d put poison in the fucking faebane, I didn’t-“ 

Oh, fuck. Poison. That’s why he’s going so quickly. 

Rhys can feel Tamlin shaking.

With the last of his strength, he whispers quietly, one last request.

“Tell her I love her. Promise me you’ll tell her.”

He feels Tamlin shudder.

“Okay. I promise.”

“Good.”

When the entire world goes dark, Rhysand sees her face, laughing and smiling, paint splattered over he cheekbones, turning red and orange and blue behind his eyes. 

And that was enough for him.

**Author's Note:**

> hahaha sorry everyone for ruining you’re day 😬 
> 
> hope you enjoyed...if enjoyed is the right word??! 
> 
> comments/kudos appreciated <3


End file.
